"Дима не знает папу."

Translation: Dima does not know Dad.

[gosutag]

This is a very sad sentence, DL

[jwbards]

Does the sentence imply that it's his own? Wouldn't it then be его папу? In English, without any further qualifier, I'd think it would mean the speaker's father ... although then it also should be capitalized. Спасибо!

[JamesSmithZA]

I think that would be своего rather than just его.

[jwbards]

Funny how when you look back on comments 7 months later, you have no idea what you were talking about. Or does that only happen to me? :-)

[Jesse.T.]

how about 4 years? :)

[Scribe_Matthew]

So, Dima is a male name in Russia?

[annika_a]

Yes, it's the affectionate/short form of Dmitri.

[Syvar]

I thought of Dima as being a female name all the time ... thanks!

[Nadib11]

Me too!

[Saurav.Sharma]

Я тоже. Ха Ха.

[GeneM.]

Sorry, I'm confused here. I can't tell from the Russian sentence whose dad we're talking about. Is it Dima's dad or someone else's dad? My native English always makes a possessive pronoun distinction.

[platyfrog]

I too am unclear on whether this is better translated to:

Dima doesn't know a father. (meaning he's never known what it's like to have a dad)

or

Dima doesn't know Dad. (meaning you're talking about your own father, no relation to Dima)

Can any native speaker help?

[Dimitrie_Grinwis]

The sentence itself doesn't give a clue about whose father Dima doesn't know.
But the conversation in which this sentence is used will provide all context to make it clear.
It could be two people talking about an orphan (and his father), or two brothers talking about a friend (and their father).

[Marcel766088]

No difference like in French savoir/connaitre?

[JamesSmithZA]

I don't think so, it seems to be like English in this regard. (Though other languages e.g. German have wissen / kennen in a similar way to the French example you cite.)
(Disclaimer: I am not a native Russian!)

[Alathat]

Is anyone else having trouble hearing the ending on the verb at slow speed? The "T" seems to disappear from "знает" in the slow recording. Or is this the proper pronunciation?

[pablopublico]

знать (znatʹ) [znatʲ] impf (perfective узна́ть) "to know" From Old East Slavic знати (znati), from Proto-Slavic *znati, from Proto-Balto-Slavic *źnōˀtei, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵnéh₃t, from *ǵneh₃- (“to know”), whence English know, cunning, canny, notice and gnostic (the latter two via Latin and Greek, respectively), Latin cognoscō ("I know", whence Spanish conocer, French connaître, Italian conoscere, Portuguese conhecer), Ancient Greek γνωρίζω (gnōrízō, “I know”) and γνῶσις (gnôsis, “knowledge”), Albanian njoh (“I know, recognise”), and Persian شناختن‎ (šenāxtæn, “to know”).

[Fodules]

me neither tho